Bulldogs put the bite on Warriors

Leyland Warriors took to the field for their first run-out of 2015’s pre-season in their new kit, sponsored by Bennett’s Distribution.

But they went down 24-18 to Wigan Bulldogs.

The visitors struck first, touching down a well-weighted kick to the corner.

Good work from the Leyland forwards gained some quick play-the-balls in centre field, allowing Leyland to go wide as Stewart McLean dummied, beat his man for pace and raced over from halfway.

Leyland were finding particular success down their left flank and after good work from Tom Whittaker, captain Paul Lorenzen went over to give the Warriors the lead.

This was short lived, as several errors gave the Bulldogs a sustained period of pressure which saw them score from close range.

A number of unforced errors put Leyland on the back foot and despite some good defence, the Bulldogs regained the lead.

But good hands saw Andy Robinson break away to score for Warriors, with Mark Quinn adding his third conversion of the afternoon from three attempts.

Again, the visitors took the lead and despite finishing the stronger and on the attack, Leyland were unable to add to their tally, with the final score 24-18 to the visitors.

Warriors Under-18s played host to Orrell St James, going down 50-20 to higher division opponents in a performance that pleased the coaches in many areas of the game.

After a crunching opening few minutes, Leyland took the lead when Bailey Locke’s cross-field kick was collected superbly by Ben Wilkins, who beat the cover to score in the corner, Locke converting.

Orrell replied swiftly with two close-range scores on the back of some powerful running and rusty defence from the Warriors.

Undaunted, Leyland worked themselves back up field with strong running from Dan Croniken, John Cain and Shaun McNicholas.

Locke took the ball to the defence and Mark Jackson ran a great line to dive over by the posts, with Locke converting again.

Again, the visitors took the lead but Leyland got themselves back into an attacking position.

And when Declan Roberts chipped across the posts, Croniken knocked the ball back, James Jeffers collected the ball, drew the cover and passed to Dylan Hart, who finished well in the corner.

The start of the second half saw Leyland concede four back-to-back tries in the opening few minutes as the visitors capitalised on some loose defending by the Warriors, which made the final score unreflective of the intensity of the match.

Leyland did manage to add to their tally after two strong carries from Matt Clegg took them close to the line and Croniken burst through several tackles to cap a fine game.

Southport Storm lost 34-14 to Runcorn at Tarleton in their first ever game.

If anything, Storm started the stronger but were hit with a try after 13 minutes, followed by two further Runcorn tries, all of which were converted.

But just before half-time, the home side scored under the posts and the conversion made the interval score 18-6 to Runcorn.

In the second half, Storm were handicapped by handling errors which gifted possession to the visitors.

They did hit back with a try in the right-hand corner, which was unconverted.

Runcorn scored again with a try down the left wing from the halfway line, which was converted, before Storm struck again for an unconverted try.

For the last quarter the more experienced visitors ran in two tries one of which was converted.